Ah, Wilderness

It had been a frustrating standoff. For more than three years,
Administration officials and some development-minded Republican
Senators from Western states stalled legislation designed to add
millions of acres of undeveloped forest land to the nation's 80
million-acre protected wilderness system. Conservationists, aided by
sympathetic Democratic House members, stymied plans for the commercial
exploitation of millions more acres of federally controlled woodlands.
The issue between the battling groups: how to manage the pristine
forests not protected by the wilderness preserves. Last week the
combatants announced a compromise that clears...